food

Cooking is an action sport. Oh sure, there are plenty of options for those who go the less dynamic route, but when it comes to prepping ingredients, activity is usually necessary. Certainly kitchen gadgets do their best to make life easier for those who choose to chop, slice, and dice, yet still there usually remains a need for direct involvement from the chef. Sometimes, however, it is the smallest of features on a gadget or appliance that lends the biggest hand.

I have always been a big fan of the Food Network show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. In the show, Guy Fieri travels around the U.S. looking for small restaurants with a flavorful menu. After getting hooked on the show, each time I travel I try to look up local spots featured on the show, but navigating the Food Network site can be a chore (especially on a mobile device).

OpenTable, a company that provides online restaurant reservations, has acquired Foodspotting, a site and apps that let users post photos of the food dishes they encounter at eateries.

The companies announced the deal today, saying that OpenTable will pay approximately $10 million in cash to acquire Foodspotting. The acquisition comes after Foodspotting inked a deal with the restaurant-reservations company to share user photos of food dishes in OpenTable listings. OpenTable didn't say what its plans are for Foodspotting, but it did say the photos are a "taste" of what to expect.

Welcome to today's show, where we're finally analyzing the food photography trend for what it is, with the help of this article in the New York Times that profiles restaurateur David Bouley and the creative tactics he's come up with to stop the dining room distractions.

The way we see it, the problem with food photography is that we've collectively lost our shame and sense of subtlety when it comes time to dine. Instead of snapping a quick 3-second iPhone pic, we've seen folks stand on chairs, use tripods with a giant dSLR, and even ask the restaurant to adjust the ceiling lights to suit the mood of the picture.

The fact is that there's really no better way to prove you're eating above your budget than to take a picture of it. Argue all you want, it's just a tacky move and plenty of restaurants agree. Check out today's show to hear some places are doing to avoid the awkwardness.… Read more

Like most folks, I've made "enthusiastic" commitments to be more resolute in staying healthy this year. Such crazy claims include getting off the buttocks and working out, eating healthy, and other life-changing nonsense. Recently, one of my friends started this diet called the TAO Diet, which stands for Ten and One. The premise is simple: You eat 10 salads and one meal of whatever you please. Then rinse and repeat.

I've come to realize that I'm an attention-seeking and easily distracted geek with a healthy track record of...falling off track. But rather than giving … Read more

"Initially, support for Punchfork will continue, but we will soon be retiring the Punchfork site, API and mobile apps," Miller wrote in a note to the Punchfork community. "We believe that a unified destination benefits our users in the long run, and the Punchfork team will focus on contributing to Pinterest as the … Read more

We all wanted so badly for the Tacocopter to be real, but the supposed Silicon Valley quadrocopter taco delivery service was just a clever fake, designed to appeal to our most basic desires for Mexican food delivery by airborne gadget.

Just because we've had our hopes dashed once doesn't mean we shouldn't come back for more. A new hope has arisen. It's called the Burrito Bomber. As its name might suggest, the Burrito Bomber is a flying drone capable of dropping a burrito payload from the sky.… Read more

We have finally dispensed with the idea that there is any difference between the 1 percent and the 99.

How moving, then, that some of life's utter essentials are now being dispensed to everyone. Well, everyone who can afford them, that is.

It is with stomach-tightening joy that I bring you news of a vending machine that has been placed in the Burbank Towne Center. This is a vending machine that brings all of America's social classes together and gathers them around foods without which they cannot live -- like caviar, truffles, and escargot.… Read more

Let's be honest: family and friends are swell, but food is really the star of the show whenever the November holiday rolls around, right? That means that whether you're celebrating at home or heading out to a potluck, the heat is on to make something oh-so-delicious for the festivities.

To help you in your endeavor, we've got a list of our favorite cooking apps for the Android platform. They'll not only help you find the best Thanksgiving recipes to get you started, but they'll also provide you with some extra tools to get the cooking … Read more

Are you hosting Thanksgiving or bringing a dish to a potluck? If so, plans are probably already in place for the turkey, side dishes, and desserts, but there might be a chance to take your recipes to the next level -- if you have the right apps.

There are several cooking apps for both iPhone and Android that are great year-round, but they also often have special featured recipe collections around the holidays. If you want to kick your green-bean casserole (or any other holiday dish) up a notch, I suggest you take a look at what these apps have to offer.… Read more